1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic electronic component in which defects such as electrode spreading, delamination, cracks, and the like are reduced, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A multilayer ceramic electronic component includes a plurality of stacked dielectric layers, internal electrodes disposed to face each other with the dielectric layer interposed therebetween, and external electrodes electrically connected to the internal electrodes.
Multilayer ceramic electronic components have been widely used as components for mobile communications devices, such as computers, PDAs, cellular phones, and the like, due to advantages thereof such as compactness, high capacity, and ease of mountability.
Recently, as electronic products have become compact and multi-functional, chip components have also tended to be compact and highly-functional. As a result, the multilayer ceramic electronic component is also required to have a compact size and a higher capacitance.
Generally, in order to manufacture a multilayer ceramic electronic component, ceramic green sheets are prepared, and then a conductive paste is printed on the ceramic green sheets to form internal electrode films. The ceramic green sheets having internal electrodes printed thereon are stacked up to several tens to several hundreds of layers, to form a ceramic laminate. Thereafter, the ceramic laminate is compressed at high temperature and high pressure to form a hard ceramic laminate, which is then subjected to a cutting process to produce a green chip. Thereafter, the green chip is plasticized, sintered, and polished, and then external electrodes are formed thereon, to thereby completely manufacture a multilayer ceramic capacitor.
Recently, as the number of stacked ceramic green sheets has increased, the ceramic green sheets subjected to a lamination process and a compressing process may affect product reliability.
That is, when the ceramic green sheets each including an internal electrode formation part and a non-internal electrode formation part are stacked and then compressed through the application of a predetermined amount of pressure, an internal electrode material moves to an empty space between the printed internal electrodes to thereby cause deformation of the ceramic green sheets and the internal electrodes.